Secret Santa
by jdluver4eva
Summary: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Neville, Cho, and Malfoy decide to play a game of Secret Santa over the holidays. Features a little shipping, a man eating plant, and Cedric's Dead Body!
1. The Games Begin

"What the hell is that?" 

"It's a common muggle Christmas activity."

"Sounds weird."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting in the Great Hall thinking about ideas on how to spend their Winter break. They were forced to spend it at Hogwarts because Mrs. Weasley didn't want them freeloading in her house anymore. Upon hearing the news, Ron had been outraged and started throwing knifes at innocent Hufflepuffs. Now that he had calmed down, they were left with nothing to do.

Hermione had casually suggested that they play Secret Santa with a group of the remaining students at Hogwarts.

"Secret Santa is quite a simple game. Everyone puts their name in a hat and they draw somebody else's name. Whoever's name they pick is the person they have to get a gift for, for Christmas."

Harry stared dreamily off at the Slytherin table. "I hope we can get Malfoy to play."he sighed

"What?" asked Ron.

"Nothing, nothing..." replied Harry hastily.

Turning to Hermione, Ron said, "But there's barely anyone left at Hogwarts."

"That's okay, we'll just round up who we can to play the game." she answered.

The news quickly spread throughout the small number of remaining students that a game of Secret Santa was to be played. People willing to play besides the trio included Luna, Cho, Ginny, and Neville. Malfoy was forced to play by the authors. (A/N- C'mon, we couldn't leave Malfoy out!) They gathered in an empty classroom and were explained the rules of the game.

Hermione brought everyone some parchment and quills and soon everyone was performing the hard task of writing their name and singing a merry tune. As soon as they were done, they slipped their names into a large hat that was conveniently located in Harry's pocket in case he needed it for just such an occasion.

"I'M SO EXCITED!" squealed Cho as she put her name in the hat. Ginny gave her an odd look.

One by one, they dropped their names into the hat, and it took so long that soon it was time for dinner.

"I hope I don't get Malfoy." grumbled Ron. Harry looked surprised.

"Why?"

"I don't want to have to get a present for that bloody git."

Ginny looked over and said brightly "He's not that bad! After all he is blonde." Ron stared at her in disgust.

"Blonde is gross!" said Hermione rather loudly. Terry Boot looked over at her with an offended expression even though he was not blonde, but he was rather strange so nobody cared.

"And anyway,: continued Hermione, "Witch Weekly says that red hair is very attractive, and I have to say, I agree."

Ron turned very red at her statement, and Ginny smiled proudly.

"EXCUSE ME, WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING? AND HERMIONE, YOU'RE ALWAYS SO SNOBBY! CAN'T YOU CONSIDER OTHER PEOPLE'S FEELINGS?!" Harry screamed. "AND GINNY- HOW DARE YOU SMILE PROUDLY? AND RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY! YOU HAVE A STUPID MIDDLE NAME!"

Everyone who was addressed looked over at Harry's perfectly calm face with a startled expression. Harry just continued eating as if nothing had happened. When he saw everyone's odd looks, he said "Sorry I'm having mood swings because of PMS." That just made everyone scared.

**Anyway, back to the story.**

After dinner, the participants of the game returned to the empty classroom and decided to draw the names from the hat, which they hadn't done before since they had taken so long to put the names in.

Hermione was the first one to pick. She grabbed the hat and shoved her hand in.

As she drew out a piece of parchment, her face fell slightly, but she kept smiling.

Next came Ginny. She drew out the parchment and a smile flickered across her face, but it soon disappeared.

"OOH, ME NEXT, ME NEXT!"screamed Cho "I WANT HARRY!" Harry looked at her oddly and backed away slowly. As she drew out the parchment it was obvious that her wish had not been fulfilled. Harry looked immensely relieved.

He then hurried over to the hat and drew a name. He looked at in and turned absolutely white. "Damn." He swore under his breath.

Then Neville bravely stepped up to the hat and took his time to choose a name. Ron looked immensely annoyed by the time Neville was done.

Fortunately Ron's turn was next so he didn't have to wait much longer. His face turned considerably redder as he read the name which he had picked. He returned to Harry's side with a grin threatening to break out.

Luna was swift with her decision and her face was unreadable as she went back to her seat.

Everyone looked at Malfoy, as he was the only person in the room who had not picked a name. He started squirming and nervously said "Well, I guess we're done now!" Harry grappled him and pushed him up to the hat. Malfoy looked like he was ready to rip it in half, but nonetheless drew the last name. He had a look of utter disgust on his face and looked slightly reminiscent of a boy named Draco Malfoy with a look of utter disgust on his face.

"Well, now that we all have someone to give gifts to, everyone must make sure that they keep quiet about the name that they've drawn. Alright, Christmas is coming, so don't procrastinate about getting the gifts, okay?" said Hermione cheerily.

"Uh, what does prucastinoo mean?" asked Ron dumbly. Hermione just sighed and left the room. All of the others followed. Once everyone had left, only Ron stood in the empty classroom.

He blinked a few times, and then said "Prucastinoo..."


	2. Hermione and Ginny

Hermione 

Hermione sat in the girl's dormitory thinking over what gift to get for her Secret Santa.

She looked down at her parchment. In loopy, big round letters it said LUNA LOVEGOOD. Hermione had no idea what to get the odd girl, but whatever it was she had to make sure it matched Luna's personality.

It was well known that Luna was obsessed with Crumple Horned Snorkacks. Hermione pondered whether to get her something relating to this mysterious beast, but she had no idea what a Snorkack was. She doubted Luna herself had any idea what it was either.

She decided to go talk to Luna and find out what she could about the crazy girl.

After a reasonable amount of searching the corridors and classrooms, she found Luna crouching behind Hagrid's hut, muttering to herself. Hermione decided to approach her.

"Hi Luna! What are you doing?"

Luna eyed her suspiciously. "Are you a Fubbla Fijooble?" she asked.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "No, I am not a...Fubbla Fijooble...I'm Hermione! Can I talk to you for a minute, Luna?"

"Sure. I was just waiting for my liquid duck to return from it's walk. You don't think it could've been eaten by a Dorkink Snakkink Snoodle, do you?"

Hermione chose to ignore this rather odd question. "Could you tell me about yourself? I was thinking that we should get to know each other better."

Luna stood up. "My name is Luna Lovegood. I go to Hogwarts, and my favorite color is tickle-me-vomit. I have 29 pets, and my father is the editor of 'The Quibbler.' My mother died when I was nine, and I want to become a naturalist. I wish I was born in New Zealand, and people fascinate me. I enjoy thinking as well as watching people go about their daily lives."

"You stalk people???" exclaimed Hermione. Luna cocked her head and then nodded.

"It's not stalking though, it's just observing and following!"

"That's called stalking..."

Luna smiled brightly. "Alright." Deciding that this interview was not going anywhere, Hermione politely excused herself, and started walking around Hogwarts, pondering her gift dilemma.

She now knew that Luna loved pets and people. She began thinking of different gift possibilities. A motion detector? No, she certainly did not want to encourage her idea of 'observing people'. A pet? Luna probably had them all, and you can't have any rare pets in Hogwarts. After a few minutes, Hermione began to be very frustrated. She kicked a rock which flew into the air and struck Terry Boot on the head. For the second time that day, Terry glared at Hermione menacingly.

Struck with an ingenious idea, Hermione ran to where she had kicked the rock. Under the impression that Hermione was running to apologize, Terry put on a very hurt face. Hermione ran past him. "Hey!" he shouted. Poor Terry.

Reaching the rock, Hermione exclaimed "Yes!" She pumped her fist into the air. "This is the perfect gift! Luna will be sure to love it!!"

Ginny

Ginny stood in Hogsmeade, looking down the row of shops before her. She looked down at the paper in her glove. Written in slanted, sharp handwriting was DRACO MALFOY (IS DA BOMB). Ginny couldn't believe that she had gotten Malfoy. People expected here to be disgusted, but in truth she was quite pleased.

This was finally an innocent chance for her to do something nice for Malfoy without anyone questioning her motives. The last time she had tried to be nice to Malfoy, Ron had rushed her off to the Hospital Wing. She had not risked that again. Now however, she had a perfectly good reason to be nice to him.

She had to get him a gift that he would love. But she had to do it in a very subtle manner. Not knowing Malfoy very well, she only had a slight idea on what he would like, but it would have to do.

She crumpled the paper back into her pocket and started to walk down the road. The first shop she entered was called FAKE CHEESE FOR THE ELDERLY. She probably shouldn't have gone in because it smelled like a mixture of old cheese and old people. She quickly left the store because she was not sure why she had come in in the first place. She decided to try HONEYDUKES figuring that everybody loves sweets. After browsing the shelves for quite some time, Ginny decided on a heart shaped chocolate lollipop that said MERRY CHRISTMAS in strawberry frosting. She decided is was a safe way to go to communicate to her crush.

As she stepped to the counter, Ginny turned around and looked across the street.

And there she saw it.

The perfect gift. She quickly abandoned the lollipop and rushed over to see how much it cost. It was brown Italian leather with a beautifully embroidered strap on the side. She entered the store, and when she saw the price she practically fainted. If she bought it, she wouldn't have enough money to buy 'You Know Who's Beautifying Kit.' From Wizardmart. Still, she would never find a better gift for Malfoy.

Taking a deep breath, she fished out her wallet and counted out the money. She had just enough. She took down the item, and walked over to the counter, admiring how Italian it felt in her hands. She hoped desperately that Draco would like it. Or else she was screwed.


	3. Cho's Tale

Cho 

The moment Cho had looked down at the piece of parchment and seen the small, wild but neat handwriting that said GINNY WEASLEY, she knew what to get her. Or, not get her, but make her. She wasn't going to buy her anything from any store. No, she wasn't going to waste precious money on Ginny Weasley. She had better things to spend her money on like buying expensive gift's for Harry. She figured that the only thing she and Ginny had in common was liking Harry Potter. Whenever she thought about this she got very frustrated. She did not like having any competition. She was thinking about Ginny now.

"HARRY IS MINE!" She roared to the empty room around her, pounding her chest at the same time. She went over to the conveniently located Ravenclaw supply closest. She grabbed a huge poster board, some glue, some markers, and some glitter to sparkle things up.

She took all the supplies into the bathroom where no one would see her. As Ginny was rather dumb, Cho wanted to convey her message loud and clear but with pizzazz. She thought of stupid Ginny Weasley and barely suppressed her extreme rage.

She started to write on the poster board, trying to be as stylish as possible. They often said that the best kind of gifts are the homemade ones, and Cho was making something you couldn't find in stores. That is, unless there was a I LOVE HARRY store, which she really wished there was.

After a long seconds work, Cho got bored and decided to talk to the love of her life. She put away her supplies where no one could find them-in the toilet. She would continue later.

She got up and unlocked the bathroom, where she saw many angry people waiting in line, looking impatient. She smiled vibrantly at them, and skipped on by.

Soon she found herself in the Great Hall, where her Harry senses started to tingle. Sure enough, there he was, looking hot as usual. His mouth was open and he was drooling slightly. She thought he had never looked better. She ran over to him, and sat down across from him. Harry looked up, alarmed. His face drained of color and he looked like he wanted to scream. But Cho saw past his odd facial expressions. She knew he wanted her.

"Hey Harry!" She giggled, in a high pitched voice that she believed to be endearing "Whatchya doing?" She asked, perhaps a little too enthusiastically.

"Er...reading the newspaper. Could you please not disturb me?" Harry looked so cute when he tried to push her away.

"But Harry, you're not doing anything!"

"Er, it's an invisible newspaper."

Cho, ever the dumb one squealed "Wow Harry you're so cool!" she meant every word.

"Could you leave me alone now?"

"No way! I know you love me."

"Cho, we gave it a try. And it bombed. Now leave me alone." Harry got up, quite pissed and folded up his invisible newspaper. Cho giggled behind him and watched it go. When was he going to admit that they were perfect for each other?

Suddenly Harry turned around and asked "Er-Cho, are there any extremely cheap things you like?"

Her eyes lit up. He was trying to get back together with her! "OH HARRY!" she screamed and hugged him. Harry let out a strange sputtering noise and started to struggle against her. Cho did not notice and held on tighter. "I KNEW YOU WANTED TO GET BACK TOGETHER WITH ME!"

"No, no, no, NO! I just, er...want to know out of curiosity. I'm asking everybody." he said over Cho;s shoulder. He noticed Terry Boot just standing and staring off into space and seized the opportunity. "Hey Terry Boot, what cheap things do you like?" there was extreme panic in his voice.

Terry looked around, surprised. "Well now that you asked Harry, I would like a sock, dream machine, cow udder, box, banana, metal box, underwater castle..." Harry sighed.

Cho noticed that he wasn't struggling anymore, and took the opportunity to grab Harry and plant a very wet and long kiss on his lips. When she pulled away, Harry looked as though he had just kissed an old person.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" he screamed, licking his lips.

Cho just giggled. She grabbed Harry's hand and gave him a meaningful glance.

After much more yelling and swearing on Harry's part, he managed to break free of Cho's grasp and as he was running away from her, he yelled "YOU FREAK!"

Cho was delighted and knew it was secret code for 'I'm madly in love with you.' She ran out of the Great Hall, ready to go finish her gift for Ginny.

"...and a computer, and a plastic foot, and some nice blue silk curtains, and some bath bubbles, and a vacuum, and a hot tub." continued Terry. He didn't notice that he was all alone.


	4. Harry's Side of the Story

Harry 

Harry was very upset. The parchment that he had drawn contained the deadly words CHO CHANG, which were written in almost unreadable handwriting. However, the words pierced Harry's spleen. He was going to have to get a gift for Cho! He could feel his doom creeping upon him. Why, oh why, couldn't he have gotten Malfoy?

The worst part of it all was that he was actually going to have to have a conversation with his whiny ex-girlfriend. Harry knew as well as anybody that Cho still liked him, but Harry, on the other hand, despised her very existence.

He was sitting in the Great Hall, staring off into space and drooling slightly. Suddenly he saw Cho coming up to him. He pretended not to notice her, and tried to increase the amount of drool dripping down his chin to make her go away.

"Hey Harry!" she giggled. Her voice was annoyingly high-pitched, and Harry thought that his ears would bleed. "Whatchya doing?" Oh no. Not this again. He quickly tried to think of something that he could be doing.

"Er...reading the newspaper. Could you please not disturb me?" It was a lame excuse, but it was all that he could think of at the moment.

Go away, dear god, go away, he thought to himself.

"But Harry, you're not doing anything!"

Harry was surprised that she had noticed. He had thought that she wasn't as smart as that. Damn it.

"Er, it's an invisible newspaper." he quickly invented. Why couldn't she just leave? He wanted to punch something right now. Preferably Cho.

"Wow Harry you're so cool!" she squealed. Harry had to agree, but he still wanted her gone.

"Could you leave me alone now?"

"No way! I know you love me."

What?! This girl was crazy. Harry sighed to himself. He was going to have to tell it like it is.

"Cho, we gave it a try. And it bombed. Now leave me alone." Harry decided that since she obviously wasn't going to leave, he might as well do it himself. He stood up, and, remembering his invisible newspaper, folded it up. He hoped that it would fool her.

As he was leaving, he remembered his job as her Secret Santa.

"Er-Cho, are there any extremely cheap things you like?" He really did not want to buy her anything expensive- and by expensive he meant anything worth more than a knut.

For some strange reason, Cho looked overjoyed at the thought that Harry wanted to get her something cheap.

"OH HARRY!" she screamed and hugged him. Harry was very alarmed and quite scared at this reaction, and started to protest by gurgling. Apparently Cho thought that his gurgling was a ballad of love, for she screamed "I KNEW YOU WANTED TO GET BACK TOGETHER WITH ME!"

Oh. My. God. Thought Harry.

"No, no, no, NO! I just, er...want to know out of curiosity." he wildly invented. "I'm asking everybody." To try and prove his point, he looked around the hall for an innocent victim. "Hey, Terry Boot, what cheap things do you like?" he was panicking. And he was scared for his life.

Harry's victim turned around to face him, and looked surprised by the fact that someone knew that Terry was alive. "Well, now that you asked Harry, I would like a sock, dream machine, cow udder, box, banana, metal box, underwater castle..." Harry sighed. This boy, he decided, was an idiot.

As if things couldn't get any worse, Harry felt himself being pulled towards Cho, and the next thing he knew, his lips were touching hers. It felt like he was kissing a goat, and Harry remembered that experience all too well. He pushed away from her and looked her in the eye. This girl needed therapy.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" He screamed, trying to erase the taste from his mouth. He needed water. Stat.

Harry was dismayed as Cho grabbed his hand. He decided that he would have to use force on this girl.

After much struggle Harry finally managed to break free.

"YOU FREAK!" He screamed at Cho. He had tried to be as polite as he could, but this girl just would not take a hint. He ran for the door.

As Harry ran as far away from Cho as humanly possible, he wondered what in the world he was going to get that girl. If only Cedric been alive, Cho would never have become so obsessed with Harry.

"Stupid Cedric and his stupid death." Harry muttered to himself.

Then the idea hit him. Then he realized it was actually a sack of potatoes that some dude had thrown at him. But then the idea hit him.

It was going to take some work, but it was worth it. It would free him for life. Or so he hoped.


	5. The Tale of Neville and Ron

Neville 

As Neville sat in the Greenhouse. He wasn't really paying attention to his surroundings. Instead, he was pondering what gift to get his Secret Santa. Under the table, he glanced once more at the piece of parchment. It read RON WEASLEY in sloppy, big handwriting.

He knew Ron loved quidditch, but Neville knew nothing about quidditch so he didn't know what would be a good gift.

He lazily looked around the Greenhouse. He was amazed at all the plants that grew here. His eyes fell upon the most awesome plant Neville had ever seen in his entire life. What he wouldn't give to have a plant like that. He wished his Secret Santa would be smart enough to get something like that for him.

Wait-if he would love a gift like that, why wouldn't Ron? Neville knew what was cool and hip. And this was definitely cool and hip.He looked around and saw that the place was deserted. He tiptoed over to where the plant stood. He did not like the idea of stealing from the Greenhouse, but it wasn't stealing, it was borrowing and never returning.

As he reached forward to grab the plant it snapped at him. He pulled back in surprise. Getting this plant into a box was going to be a problem. Problems needed solutions, and Neville┘did not have a solution. He starred dumbly at the plant. Suddenly he shouted at the plant "WAA WAA WOOO!" In a sad attempt to scare it. The plant recoiled for a moment but than sprang back to life.

"Curses!" Neville screamed. With a burst of rage he smacked the plant. The plant fell over and turned brown. ⌠NO I'VE KILLED IT! Neville screamed. "Oh well, Ron won't be able to tell the difference." He went over to where a handily stored box was laying. He picked it up and stuffed the plant In, not taking any care.

The moment the plant got in the box, it sprang back to life, as green as it was before. Neville supposed that it had just fainted briefly before. He happily walked out of the Greenhouse, carrying the box with him. He would wrap it in some spiffy wrapping paper later.

As he walked down the hall with a huge grin on his face, he saw a rather odd sight. Harry was walking down the hall, lugging a huge lumpy bag that smelled kind of odd. He was grunting and dragging it slowly as he proceeded down the hallway, receiving many strange looks. Neville thought it was best to ignore him.

Ron

Ron could not believe both his luck and his misfortune to have drawn Hermione's name. He didn't think that he would have to think very hard about what to get her- after all, she was his best friend.

Ron sighed. As he was sitting in the common room, he saw a mane of brown bushy hair pass him by.

"Hermione!" he called out to her. "Wait up!" He jogged up to meet her.

"Yes?" she asked. He gazed at her chocolate brown eyes for a second, and then said "So, who'd you get for Secret Santa?"

"Ron, we're not supposed to tell anyone! You didn't tell Harry, did you?"

"No, of course not" Ron said casually. He could feel himself sweating a little bit.

"Good." They stood next to each other awkwardly for a few moments. Ron very much wanted to reach out and touch her hand but he was afraid to do so, so he just stood there.

"So, have you, er, thought about what to get your Secret Santa?" asked Hermione after a few moments of uncomfortable silence.

Not wanting to sound stupid, he said "Er...I...A little, I guess" but Hermione seemed to realize that he was lying. She sighed. She seemed to sigh a lot when she was around him, thought a upset Ron.

"Well, I guess I'll get started on the gift thing right now..." he said slowly.

"Alright then." Answered Hermione, as she walked away from him.

"Oh! Wait, I almost forgot to ask you- PLEASE TELL ME, what does prucastinoo mean???" said Ron desperately. "No one will tell me!" he wailed.

Hermione just sighed again. "Use a dictionary, Ronald."

Ron stared dumbly at her. "Dikshionary?" he repeated. "Huh?" Hermione shook her head at him and headed for the door.

"Dikshion-harry?" he wondered aloud. He suddenly felt very smart as he remembered that a dikshion-harry was something that you used to pluck nose hairs. With a stupid grin, he set of to face...well, nothing but he did set off somewhere.

Two hours later

Ron stood in an empty classroom, trying to figure out where the hell he was. He had been wandering around Hogwarts for a couple of hours, and it seemed that he was alone in the school. It was dinner time, and the only place that he hadn't checked for people was the Great Hall- but why would anybody be there, right? Ron sighed. And he had still not found out what prucastinoo meant...


	6. Luna and Draco's Day Out

Luna 

Luna sat in front of the portrait of Violet, the Fat Lady's friend. They were having quite an interesting discussion about cows and why they were placed on this earth. Suddenly, a peach fell out of the sky and landed right on Luna's head.

Luna wasn't a fool, she knew a falling peach was an omen of olives being in her near future. She quickly excused herself from her conversation with Violet and ran down the corridor. She knew where she could find an olive but the only question is why she needed it.

As soon as she got to the portrait of the fruit bowl in front of the kitchen, she tickled the pear, and clambered through the portrait

"Bubbalooooo? Where aaaare yooou?" Luna's dreamy voice called out. A small, fat and rather ugly elf appeared before her. He was not wearing anything, but Luna did not mind. "Oh Bubbaloo, could you bring me a glass of champagne and some olives?" She asked in a surprisingly sophisticated voice.

"Yes miss." answered Bubbaloo in a deep, sing songy voice. He went off to fetch the champagne and olives. Luna stood in the middle of the kitchen awaiting his return. She twiddled her radish earrings and whistled the funeral march.

Bubbaloo returned with the items she had requested on a silver platter. She grandly took the champagne glass and with a big sweeping gesture ate the olive. She took a sip of her champagne.

"Hmm nice Bubbaloo. 1965 I presume?"

"As always miss ,as always." Bubbaloo replied.

She took a few more sips and then started to get tipsy. She staggered toward a toaster and spit the olive seed out into the toaster. The toaster spat out blue flames.

As she drank the rest of the champagne bottle she was reminded of her great grandpa Elroy. If he was alive today, what would he tell her? She wondered.

"I;ve got it!" her voice was incredibly slurred. "The perfect gift for Noviell Loonboot."

Bubbaloo stood by and watched with fascination. She noticed this and kicked him in the shins and ran away. She needed to go fetch the perfect Secret Santa gift.

Draco

Draco sat in the lavishly decorated Slytherin common room and looked once more at the crumpled piece of parchment in his hand as if it were on fire. It was probably the 100th time that day that he had glanced at the hurriedly scrawled words HARRY POTTER, trying reassure himself that he was hallucinating. Unfortunately, he wasn't, so he let out another long groan. Why him???

What in the world was he supposed to get Potter, that loser who was always obsessing over him. Although Draco had to admit that he was quite dashing, it still freaked him out.

Malfoy decided that he wanted to cause Harry as much pain as possible. And what causes Harry pain? Voldemort! (And Cho). Draco thought that perhaps he should try to get Voldemort into Hogwarts, but that little joke had gotten so old.

He decided to take a walk, because he was not feeling very creative. He stepped outside and took a breath of fresh air. There was barely anyone on the grounds besides Ginny Weasley.

Ginny was sitting under the shade of a tree, and holding something that looked oddly like a doll. Intrigued, he walked over to her.

"Hey frecklette." he said. "What are you holding?"

Ginny quickly put the item behind her back, and blushed. "Nothing." she said hastily.

"Ah come on frecklette, you can tell me." he said.

"Er, well┘it was a doll."

"LIKE BARBIE?" Malfoy squealed excitedly.

"Er...no. It's a voo doo doll."

"Who's it off?"

"Er...the emperor of Japan."

"OK..." He started to get scared. "Listen, you know Potter..."

"Who's Potter?"

"Lloyd Potter! Harry Potter obviously. What would make him wet his pants?"

She thought for a second and answered him. His face lit up as he heard her reply.

"Gee wilikers, that's a swell idea!" Malfoy gave her a great big hug and skipped off. Ginny blushed as he walked away.

Malfoy grinned evilly. He knew the perfect gift to make Potter squirm.


	7. The Games End

Christmas Eve 

The eight students sat around in the empty classroom that had become their home. Each of them had brought their gift, carefully wrapped and put in a box. Except Harry's present was in a big potato sack that smelled rather odd.

"The person who I got my gift for had better appreciate it. I went to great lengths to get it!!!!!!"

"That's so sweet of you Harry!" Cho shrieked. "My gift receiver is getting a little something straight from the heart."

"Aw, isn't that sweet?" Hermione smiled. Harry made barfing noises at her statement.

Luna looked at her box with contentment and smelled it. She couldn't remember what her present was or why she had gotten it, she just hoped it was good.

Neville sat humming in his chair. There was a bizarre snapping sound coming from the box he had wrapped, but everyone chose to ignore it.

Ginny glanced nervously at Malfoy, and fingered her gift. "I really want my recipient to like my gift." she said.

Malfoy just snarled and grinned evilly. Everyone hoped that Malfoy hadn't chosen their name. Except for Harry, for whatever reason.

Ron looked the most nervous. He was sweating profusely and had not said a word. He clutched onto his box for dear life.

"Er, I need to..." He didn't bother finishing the sentence, he just got up and ran for his life.

"What the hell was his problem?" Malfoy asked.

Everyone shook their heads.

"Anyway." said Hermione "I guess it's time to exchange gifts."

"But what about Ron?" asked Ginny.

"Forget Ron, he's a loser." Harry said. "I refuse to wait for him. I want my present now!" he whined.

Hermione volunteered to go first. She picked up her box and stepped up to Luna. "I'm your Secret Santa!" she said cheerily, with a huge smile on her face. "Merry Christmas!" she handed Luna the box.Luna opened the box slowly and carefully. Harry impatiently tapped his foot. When Luna had opened the box, she peered inside.

"Well, what is it?■"Harry demanded.

Luna pulled out the object. It appeared to be a rock with a smiley face on it. Everyone looked confused.

"It's a pet rock!" Hermione explained. Harry glared at the rock enviously.

"Oh this is so cool! You're the best!" Luna exclaimed, starting to pet her rock. Harry growled. He wanted a rock.

"Who;s next?" Hermione asked.

Ginny stepped up, gulping. She turned red as she walked towards Malfoy. Malfoy looked at her in surprise.

"Well here it is!" Ginny said, and ran back to her seat.

"Oh this is ganna be good." Harry muttered under his breath.

Malfoy tore open the gift and pulled out an expensive, Italian black leather man purse. For a moment his face seemed to light up, but his smile quickly disappeared.

"Do you think I'm gay or something?" he asked Ginny. Ginny looked disappointed but smirked nonetheless and said "Maybe, maybe..." Malfoy looked embarrassed and glared at her. Inside however, he was overjoyed at his gift.

Wanted to reveal her gift to the world, Cho stood up with her long, thin box. She walked over to Ginny and Harry looked relieved. Cho smiled sweetly. "I made this myself!" she said.

Oh dear god, thought Ginny as she accepted the gift. She ripped off the wrapping paper and opened the box. She pulled out the poster board and stared at it. In bright, bubbly, colorful letters, were the words **Stay away from my Harry!**

"Oh, this is what I've always wanted." Ginny replied sarcastically. Cho looked at her smugly. Harry sank down in his seat, his cheeks burning red.

At that moment Ron ran back into the room, looking flustered and gasping for breath. He held his box close and took a seat. Everyone looked at him and Ron took that as his cue to present his present.

Since Hermione was sitting right next to him, he didn't get up, and just handed her the box. She opened it and turned a bright red as did Ron. She quickly stuffed the present back into the box, smiling knowingly at Ron. Ron looked relieved.

Next second, there was a box whizzing through the air. On instinct, Neville got it. He saw that Luna had been the one to throw it. He opened the small box and pulled out a tiny olive. "Er..." was all he could say. "Thanks Luna." he said to be nice. Luna looked as surprised as he was at the gift.

"Oh Neville, I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking..."

"Do you ever?" muttered Malfoy.

Getting tired, Malfoy stood up and shuddered as he walked over to Harry. Harry's face lit up as he took the box from Malfoy. He ripped it open eagerly and pulled out a doll. But not just any doll. It bore a strange resemblance to Lord Voldemort, and was wearing a T-Shirt that read Voldy is da bomb. Harry didn't know what to say. He squeezed the doll and was surprised to hear it say 'Stupid Mudblood.' For whatever reason, he squeezed it again only to hear it say "Join the Deatheaters!" in a cheery voice. Harry tucked the doll away, with every intention of stabbing it's eyes out later.

Ron looked around. "WHERE'S MY GIFT?" he wailed. Neville stood up and walked over, with a proud on his face. Ron happily took the gift from him. He opened it only to find a plant. He lifted the plant up to his face and said. "It's a dumb plant."

"It's not as dumb as you think." smirked Neville.

Suddenly the plant bit off a small part of Ron's nose. He screamed in pain yelling "MY NOSE! MY BEAUTIFUL NOSE!" Hermione cried with him. Neville was still smirking, taking this reaction to mean that Ron loved his gift.

"Well, seems like you're the only one without a gift Cho." said Luna.

"And Harry, seems like you're the only one who hasn't given a gift." Ginny chimed in.

Cho stared dumbly into space. "BUT WHO HAS MY GIFT?" she cried.

With a sigh Harry stood and dragged the bag over to Cho.

"I really hope you leave me alone now. I worked hard to get this." he said, throwing the bag at her, hitting her on the shoulder. She happily opened the bag and pulled out a rotting corpse. Nobody knew what it was, but Cho seemed to.

"CEDDLY BABE!" she cried.

"What?" shouted the others.

"Cedric┘Diggory?" Hermione asked.

"It's Cedric Diggory's rotting corpse!" Harry explained. "I thought it was perfect."

"You're right, it is perfect." said Malfoy with disgust, watching Cho kiss the corpse.

**Two Weeks Later**

Terry Boot watched as Ron and Hermione passed, holding hands. Hermione was carrying some sheets of paper, which had the words 10 Reasons to Date Ron Weasley scribbled hastily across.

Harry was pulling the stuffing out of a strange bald doll, muttering something to himself.

On the other side of the hall sat Ginny and Draco. Draco was proudly displaying a handsome man purse.

There was a strange looking plant lying in the trash, that he saw Neville put out.

Luna walked beside Neville, pulling a rock with a smiley face on a leash behind her. Neville was eating the last millicentimer of his olive.

The strangest sight of all, was Cho Chang sitting in a dark corner with a rotting corpse.


End file.
